Learn About Viral Campaigns from the “Alex from Target” Example

Viral campaigns could be more effective than open marketing campaigns that are more expensive to carry out. If your brand is low on exposure or popularity with the resultant effect on sales, there’s nothing like a viral marketing exercise to breathe new life into your business. The department store chain Target is now realizing the benefits of some viral activity that it did not actually initiate.

How viral can a picture get? Well, if the “Alex from Target” example is anything to go by, a picture could not only get viral thanks to social media but also make that object or person an instant celebrity.

The Buzz around Alex from Target

Alex is just a teenage employee at the Target store in Frisco, Texas. He was photographed by a teenage girl, Brooklyn Reiff and posted in a Twitter message to her friend Alanna Page who had tweeted her about a cute cashier in the store whose name she wanted to know. So Reiff took a photo of him and his name was on the badge on his uniform, which turned out to be Alex. This photo was then re-tweeted by @auscalum on November 2, 2014 and the whole chain reaction started. More than the original tweet it was the re-tweet by @auscalum which also had the caption “YOOOOOOOOOOO” that got viral.

Alex, as most people would know by now, is 16-year old Alex Christopher LaBeouf. As the @auscalum re-tweet gathered momentum, users managed to track Alex’s Twitter account, @ac1163, and his following exceeded 600,000 on November 6 and is still counting. The #AlexFromTarget hashtag has experienced massive trending on Twitter. Alex then started posting pictures of himself with newly acquired fans.

How Companies Are Caching In

While this is the most widely circulated story of what happened, there are conflicting reports too, probably by those who seek some benefit from this sensational Twitter trending. Breakr Nation, the viral marketing company, began claiming on November 3 that this Alex from Target campaign was their idea of proving the power of the teen fan girl demographic. There’s no denying that this whole episode has given Target much publicity with a golden opportunity for increased sales.

Alex has appeared on CNN and on the Ellen show where he discussed his reaction to this trend that had made him a celebrity almost overnight.

Viral through Social Media

This example has just proved two things:

Social media can make people, products or brands go viral

Teenagers create trends and sensations

Both these observations easily drive home the point that businesses should capitalize on viral campaigns through social media. While it’s not known whether Target had anything to do with the Alex from Target viral movement, thereâ€™s no denying that Target will experience some growth in sales and immense rise in popularity.

Now get a viral campaign ready! An experienced and dynamic Internet marketing company could help with ideas.